Chateau Lafite de Rothschild and Carruades de Lafite. Photo: Sotheby's.

HONG KONG.- Andrew Lloyd Webber is one of the most prolific and best-known composers of our day. Famed for writing such musical greats as The Phantom of the Opera, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Evita and Cats, his music is universally recognised and performed in theatres around the world. A committed and knowledgeable collector of both art and wine, Lord Lloyd Webber has built up a magnificent cellar over many years, part of which will be offered for sale at Sotheby's Hong Kong on 22nd January, 2011. The sale of The Andrew Lloyd Webber Wine Collection offers a total of 748 lots and is expected to fetch HK$21.8  32 million / US$2.8  4.1 million / £1.8  2.6 million*.

Serena Sutcliffe, Master of Wine, Sotheby's International Head of Wine, said:"The Andrew Lloyd Webber wine collection has seen many enthusiasms and a plethora of vintages, but the discernment and selectivity have remained a constant. As with all collecting, the magpie instinct can get the upper hand and there comes a time when there is no more space on the walls nor in the cellar. So Sotheby's has been able to design a sale of such splendour that wine lovers around the globe will be able to realise their own collecting ambitions. It is a marvel that wines of this quality and excitement can now come to the market, while the owner still retains glorious drinking for gatherings of family and friends."

Lord Lloyd Webber said of the sale: "I am very happy that Sotheby's is bringing part of my precious wine collection to Hong Kong, particularly given that many wine connoisseurs are now in Asia."

Andrew Lloyd WebberLord Lloyd Webbers talent for all things musical began at an early age. At three years old he was already showing an aptitude for the piano and for composing. His mother noted: All the pieces he was supposed to play, he wouldnt touch. He wanted to play his own tunes, and no others. Andrew Lloyd Webber had his first composition published at the age of eleven and his first song commercially recorded at the age of fifteen. Knighted by Her Majesty the Queen in 1992 and created a peer in the House of Lords by the British Government in 1997 for his services to music, Lord Lloyd Webber has been referred to as "the most commercially successful composer in history."

Sothebys SaleAndrew Lloyd Webbers vinous devotion is to France and this sale contains mature, classic wines that can be broached immediately (1982 Bordeaux for example), to stupendous vintages that can age further, such as the formidable 2005s. Part of the collection has been stored in the temperature controlled cellars of Lord Lloyd Webbers 16th century home, Sydmonton Court, while many younger wines come from professional storage.